W. Boylston solar farm up for vote Monday

Voters will decide whether to rent 20 acres of town-owned land on Paul X. Tivnan Drive for a solar farm when semi-annual town meeting convenes Monday.

Selectmen suggested that a lack of spending articles or bylaw changes could keep voters at home Monday. But the articles on the warrant are of importance, and could help solve the town's municipal building dilemma, board Chairman Kevin McCormick said.

An article on the warrant asks for permission to enter into a long-term lease with Borrego Solar Inc., which plans a four-megawatt, 20-acre solar farm on the land, which the town has been seeking to lease for half a decade.

If approved, the deal will leave about 14 usable acres, some of which must be used for municipal purposes under an agreement with the state, which sold 61 acres of land to the town and Municipal Light Plant in 2002.

Under the proposal accepted by selectmen, the electricity produced would be sold to the Municipal Light Plant at competitive rates. Those rates, as well as definitive numbers on what the company is willing to pay for the 20-year lease, are now being negotiated, Town Administrator Leon Gaumond Jr. said. He said he hopes to have a final agreement in time for town meeting.

Based on the proposal, the property is expected to be leased for $100,000 per year. The company will also agree to a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement and will sell power to the Light Plant at 5.5 cents a kilowatt.

Another article would create a special account, through the legislature, to take the money from leases and PILOT agreements on the property and place them directly into a special account known as the Municipal Buildings Account. That money could then be used to plan and build municipal buildings by the building committee.

Selectmen have recently issued a request for proposals for a piece of property in the center of town, with existing buildings preferred, ostensibly to relocate Town Hall and the Senior Center, with room for additional buildings.

Article 15 calls for a large budget adjustment regarding increased veterans services. The town ran into the same predicament last year, when the approved veterans services budget was insufficient and needed emergency funds to make it to the annual town meeting.